Neville Gabriel

Neville Gabriel "is the founding executive director of the Southern Africa Trust, where he directs innovative work to build the capacity of civil-society organizations to engage in national, regional, and global policy-development processes.

"Southern Africa Trust is an independent regional agency that supports deeper and wider policy engagement between governments and non-state actors to overcome poverty in Southern Africa. Mr. Gabriel works directly with official institutions, such as the New Partnership for Africa’s Development, the Pan-African Parliament, and the Southern African Development Community, as well as regional civil-society apex organizations and business associations, to provide support, opportunities, and institutional mechanisms for direct policy engagement between governments and non-state actors.

"Prior to joining the Trust, Mr. Gabriel was part of Oxfam’s southern Africa regional senior management team, coordinating media and advocacy work. He was a leading role-player in the development of the Alliance for Justice & Peace in Southern Africa, where he launched their southern Africa regional-trade justice program, and of the Denis Hurley Institute for International Solidarity & Peace. Early in his career he worked with the Southern African Catholic Bishops’ Conference, as a researcher in the Southern African Parliamentary Liaison Office, as Secretary for Economic Justice, and Director of the Justice & Peace Department. He also co-founded the Jubilee 2000 South Africa coalition, promoting debt cancellation and economic justice, and served as national secretary, national executive committee member, and spokesperson.

"Mr. Gabriel also currently serves as a non-executive director of the African Forum on Debt & Development and a member of the board of Goedgedacht Forum for Social Reflection. He was also a founding non-executive director of the Southern African Regional Poverty Network.

"Mr. Gabriel travels extensively and frequently speaks at national and international conferences, public campaigning events, and policy dialogues, including those relating to G8 summits and UN processes on the Millennium Development Goals and development financing. He has been widely published and is recognized as a leading civil-society commentor on NEPAD, the MDGs, debt cancellation, the role of civil-society organizations in development, and poverty-reduction strategies. He received his bachelors of social sciences from the University of Cape Town, and graduated with Honours in Social Sciences from the University of Natal. Mr Gabriel has been rated by South Africa’s Financial Mail as one of the country’s most influential black citizens in the development sector."


 * Senior Fellow, Synergos Institute